Hunter S. Thompson's 1973 Chevrolet Caprice
The Red Shark is going to auction. Hunter S. Thompson's personal 1973 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Convertible, named in tribute to the Great Red Shark driven by his alter ego Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was gifted to him by notorious San Francisco porn impresarios Jim and Artie Mitchell in 1990 and stayed with him until his death in 2005. The red convertible with white leather interior appeared on the covers of two Thompson books and became as much a part of his mythology as his typewriter or his cigarette holder. When Johnny Depp spent weeks living with Thompson to prepare for the 1998 Terry Gilliam film adaptation, he drove the Red Shark himself from Thompson's Colorado home to Los Angeles for production, using it for the film's interior shots including the iconic opening sequence. It comes accompanied by a black Gonzo Fist box containing Jacques Marie Mage aviator sunglasses, Jimmy Buffett and Allman Brothers cassette tapes, and various original documents.
